Aluminum companies must support VALCO - Wereko-Brobbey

Energy expert, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, has said VALCO must not be shut down, but must be made to pay realistic tariffs.

He said instead of subsidising VALCO’s energy tariffs, companies that benefit from the smelter’s operation must come together to contribute to the overall tariff of the company.

Dr Wereko-Brobby explained: “without VALCO, all the aluminium companies would have to import ingots and then buy electricity from ECG at a high rate so that they can melt those ingots and use them”.

Dr Wereko-Brobbey, who disagreed with a World Bank report which suggested the closure of the Volta Aluminium Company Ltd (VALCO) because it is a drain on the sector, said VALCO already delivers the melted ingots to the aluminum companies without them having to go through the difficulty of buying power to melt them, they should pick up the subsidy government is paying.

He, however, disagreed that the board of utility agencies or regulators must be composed of technocrats.

“We must distinguish between a board, which is necessarily giving political and social direction, from the secretariat of the organisation which must constitute technocrats," said Dr Wereko-Brobby.

Sunil Mathrani, Task Team Leader for the World Bank Report, said although there were no new revelations in the report about the issues, the fact still remains that challenges facing Ghana’s power and petroleum sub-sectors are threatening to undermine Ghana’s bid to become a fully-fledged middle income country.

He indicated that private investors are not coming into the sector because of the challenges in the sector.

Key among the challenges discouraging private sector investment into the sector, Mr Mathrani observed, is the many intermediary agencies that must be dealt with in the production of power.